| Authors | Nan Zou Joshua M. Pearce Amarjeet Bassi Michael S. H. Boutilier Ying Zheng |
|---|---|
| Location | London, ON, Canada |
| Status | Designed Modelled Prototyped Verified |
| Verified by | FAST |
| Years | 2026 |
| Uses | hydrogen |
Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma systems are promising routes for CH4 splitting to COx-free hydrogen, but their optimization has historically been hindered by the lack of a universal descriptor linking electrical input with chemical output. Here, we propose the plasma effective driving factor (PED) as a physics-informed engineering descriptor for evaluating plasma-reaction-driving capability in DBD reactors. PED integrates three coupled aspects of plasma activation: electric-field-driven electron acceleration, electron–molecule collision efficiency, and reactor-scale participation of active microdischarges. Using CH4 splitting as the primary reaction system, we show that PED captures plasma discharge and performance variations not consistently resolved by conventional electrical parameters. Extension to published DBD systems suggests the potential of PED for comparative analysis beyond the present CH4 splitting system. Overall, PED provides a practical engineering framework for relating discharge-state variation to chemical reaction response and offers a comparative basis for evaluating plasma-reaction-driving capability across different DBD conditions.
